The role of expectations in service evaluation: A longitudinal study of a proximity mobile payment service

•We examine the temporal role of pre-use expectations in framing user experiences.•Expectations influence perceived usability of a service after three weeks of usage.•Expectations influence enjoyment of a service after three weeks of usage.•Users' experiences mediate the influence of expectations on behavioral intentions.•After six weeks, experiences have the strongest impact on users' evaluations.

We develop and test a model that suggests that expectations influence subjective usability and emotional experiences and, thereby, behavioral intentions to continue use and to recommend the service to others. A longitudinal study of 165 real-life users examined the proposed model in a proximity mobile payment domain at three time points: before use, after three weeks of use, and after six weeks of use. The results confirm the short-term influence of expectations on users' evaluations of both usability and enjoyment of the service after three weeks of real-life use. Users' evaluations of their experiences mediated the influence of expectations on behavioral intentions. However, after six weeks, users' cumulative experiences of the mobile payment service had the strongest impact on their evaluations and the effect of pre-use expectations decreased. The research clarifies the role of expectations and highlights the importance of viewing expectations through a temporal perspective when evaluating user experience.